Perry trounces Hutchison in Texas

Gov. Rick Perry won a decisive victory over Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Texas GOP primary for governor Tuesday night, bringing a bruising fight between two of the state's most popular Republicans to an anticlimactic conclusion.

Perry said his win should send a message to Washington.

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"Quit spending all the money, stop trying to take over our lives and our businesses," he said in a speech that seemed aimed as much as the Obama White House as his Democratic opponent Bill White.

Hutchison acknowledged that it was natural to have some lingering hard feelings after a tough fought primary in the trenches, but asked all of her supporters to unite behind Perry.

"That is what will be best for all of us and for Texas. Our party must come together," she said at her election night watch party in Dallas.

"We have fought valiantly for our principles, but we did not win," she said.

With 73 percent of all precincts reporting, Perry had a 51 percent to 31 percent lead over the three-term senior senator. Debra Medina, a favorite of Tea Party activists, was holding steady at 18 percent.

A Hutchison aide conceded that in the unlikely event Perry's vote share dropped below the 50 percent threshold necessary to avoid a runoff, there was "no realistic path to victory."

At Perry's election night party held at a BBQ restaurant outside of Austin, the mood was confident and relaxed from the start, as upbeat supporters listened to a country band, sipped canned beer and gathered around flat screen televisions that featured returns from the secretary of state's website.

Moments after most of the polls closed, the Associated Press declared former Houston Mayor Bill White as the winner of the Democratic nomination. With 65 percent of precincts reporting, White was trouncing businessman Farouk Shami 75 percent to 13 percent.

The Democratic Governors Association immediately began making the case that White could make the general election competitive.

"Rick Perry is our nation's longest serving Republican governor and yet he barely won 50 percent of the vote in his own primary. We need no more evidence to know that this is not a pro-Republican electorate," DGA Executive Director Nathan Daschle said in a statement. "It's an electorate that wants results over rhetoric, optimism over pessimism, and success over secession."

In his victory speech in Houston, White offered an olive branch to those Republicans who supported Hutchison or Medina.

"We invite those who supported other candidates to join our team, which consists of citizens from all backgrounds and both parties. We are committed to honest, competent, decentralized and accountable government. We believe that more unites than divides Texans," White said.

Texas GOP chair Cathie Adams cast Perry's win as "a vote against what Barack Obama is doing to this country."

"Everything he's doing is wrong. It's the private sector and only the private sector that can right the economy and create jobs," Adams said, adding, "Governor Perry knows that, Washington does not."

In the 17th Congressional District GOP primary, Bill Flores led the five-man pack but fell well short of the 50 percent threshold necessary to avoid a runoff and will face 2008 nominee Rob Curnock on April 13.

Flores lead Curnock 35 to 28 percent with 83 percent of all precincts reporting. The winner gets a shot at Rep. Chet Edwards, who captured just 53 percent in 2008 in his Waco-based district two years ago.

Rep. Ciro Rodriguez another leading Democratic target, will also have to wait until next month to discover his Republican opponent. Businessman Quico Canseco holds a narrow 36 to 30 percent lead over former CIA officer Will Hurd; both look headed to a runoff.

Rep. Ron Paul dismissed any concerns about his vulnerability in the 14th Congressional District, topping three Tea Party-powered opponents with 81 percent.

In the northeast Texas-based 4th Congressional District, with 65 percent of precincts reporting, 86-year-old Rep. Ralph Hall was also declared the winner, but with just 58 percent—the poorest performance of any Texas incumbent. Technology executive Steve Clark pulled in almost 30 percent, not nearly enough to force Hall into a runoff.